Why The Art Of B.S Helps You Write Credible Copy

Have you ever been to an event, or conference, or general gathering of people where someone has absolutely captivated an audience despite talking rubbish?

Or perhaps you’ve found yourself yelling at the TV during a reality TV show like The Apprentice, as a group rallies behind the loudest but possibly least competent leader.

And I’m pretty sure that at some point in your working life, you’ve met that person who can hold the attention of the boardroom despite glossing over the figures and glossing over the details.

Welcome to the Art of B.S

If you downloaded a copy of the Personality Entrepreneur report you’ll already know that the most famous “experts” in this world also tend to be the least credible.

In fact, to prove this, an experiment was once conducted where a researcher hired an actor to deliver a speech to an audience of psychiatrists, psychologists and social workers. However there were a couple of things to be noted:

The lecture was absolute rubbish, filled with illogical statements and contradictions

It was delivered brilliantly, with absolute confidence and certainty by the actor

And despite the audience filled with people well-educated on the subject, no-one picked up on the fallacies within the lecture. In fact, they were very impressed with it.

So how can you use this to increase the credibility in your copy without hoodwinking your audience?

By understanding the traits of an “expert” which include:

Confident delivery

Talking in certain terms

Sticking to a simple idea or story

Confident Delivery

When you know the benefits of your product or service, don’t hold back in your copy. Too many people writing their own copy are humble, or miss selling points completely because they’re too close to the product.

A good technique is to have a friend tell you what they think the selling points are of your product. You might find that what seems obvious to them is something you’ve overlooked.

And remember, sales copy isn’t about being arrogant, or boasting, it’s about proving to your customer that their days of living with a certain problem can be over with your help. Now that’s something to feel confident about.

Talk in certain terms

Psychologically, us humans don’t like uncertainty. We like to know what’s what in the world, not what may or may not happen.

As a result, we like listening to people who reinforce this feeling of certainty. Newspapers are much more likely to quote an expert who says “This is definitely the reason this happened” rather than “well, there are a number of factors, and really nobody’s that sure if any of them actually contributed to the final outcome. On the one hand…”

So what does this mean in your copy? Well it’s not so much about glossing over complex details, as using proof and logic to add certainty to your argument.

For example, consider the following statements:

“More businesses are turning towards social media to market their services”

compared to:

“In 2011, more than $1bn was invested in marketing businesses through social media. With an average return of $3 for every $1 spent, it’s obvious that this is a growing, and lucrative industry.

Now, I’ve just made up those figures, (obviously don’t do that), but you can see that it adds much more weight and credibility to the story than without.

Stick to a simple idea or story

Too often, sales copy gets muddled by having too many different directions or story ideas. It’s understandable because with so many different things to talk about, it’s tricky to know where to start or how to structure your sales copy. I often encourage people to write their sales page as if they were recommending a new service to a friend. It forces you to start at the beginning and try to find the logical story you would use if you were letting someone know about a new restaurant, or book or hairdresser rather than trying to concentrate on all the sales psychology at the same time.

I also teach a very simple 10 step sales page structure that you can use which I’ll be going through during this weekend’s boot camp. 🙂

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About Amy Harrison

I am a copywriter, content-trainer, speaker and filmmaker teaching businesses how to avoid drab business content and write copy customers love to read. You can also find me hanging out and sharing content over on Google+.